Experts stunned by success of Trojan Horse cancer therapy

An experimental "Trojan-Horse" cancer therapy has completely eliminated prostate cancer in mice. The therapy involves hiding cancer killing viruses inside the immune system and then sneaking them into the tumor.

Once inside, tens of thousands "friendly" viruses were released to kill the cancer cells, BBC News reports.

According to scientists at the University of Sheffield, all the mice tested survived and had no traces of the disease in their systems, The Mirror reports.

Mice on other treatment died after their cancer spread.

The breakthrough therapy has been called "exciting," and could be tested on humans as soon as next year.

The research was reported in the Journal of Cancer Research. It noted that with treatments such as chemotherapy, tumors are likely to regrow, once the therapy is over.

According, to Futurity, Claire Lewis, a professor in the oncology department at Sheffield, and co-leader of the study said the Trojan-Horse therapy was "very empowering" for patients on chemotherapy or radiotherapy because with this new treatment, it was the patients' "own white blood cells doing the work and blasting the cancer."

Lewis' study co-leader Munitta Muthana noted that while the new therapy was developed to treat prostate cancer, it can be used to "treat patients with any form of cancer."

"It completely eradicates the tumor and stops it from growing back," Claire Lewis said according to BBC News.

Lewis cautioned that while this is a "ground-breaking" concept, many therapies that have "remarkable" effects on mice, have had little to no effect on humans.